Care about the future of Pioneer Square, Chinatown/ID and other South Downtown neighborhoods?

This post originally appeared on The New Pioneer Square, a blog that shares pictures, news, and events from Seattle’s first neighborhood.

From the Downtown Seattle Association:

On Monday November 22nd, the City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed rezone of Pioneer Square, Chinatown/ID and SODO down to Lander Street. This rezone is our opportunity to build on the vibrancy and health of these neighborhoods by creating more market rate housing, jobs and retail offerings.

These Downtown neighborhoods are centered squarely on Washington’s largest transit hub (King Street Station, Light Rail, buses, future Streetcar,) in close proximity to thousands of jobs and the future Central Waterfront. But for decades these neighborhoods have lacked market rate housing, which is so critical to sustaining safe, healthy and vibrant communities.

The opportunity to change that is now.

But there is one problem; the current rezone proposal simply will not result in the types of investments and additional market rate housing the neighborhoods so desperately need and want. This is where you come in — can you help us tell the City Council:

1. We need more market rate housing in Pioneer Square and Chinatown/ID to improve on the vibrancy of these important historic neighborhoods.
2. These neighborhoods are right Downtown, have wonderful cultural and art offerings and are well served by transit. What we need is more market rate housing in these neighborhoods.
3. As proposed, this legislation will not realize the vision for these neighborhoods.
4. We have one chance to get this legislation right. Before acting, carefully review the economic assumptions to ensure that the proposal will attract new investment to these neighborhoods.

Action Requested:
We need your help to voice these concerns at the public hearing this Monday, November 22nd at Wing Luke Museum.

If you can’t make it to the public hearing, you can email the City Council with your message. Be sure to ask Councilmembers to carefully review the economic assumptions underlying this proposal and take another look at how best to incentivize development in Pioneer Square, Chinatown/ID and SODO.

Your input and comments, you can help guide the City Council in making the best choices to keep Downtown inviting, clean and safe.

It’s always best to put even a small portion of the message in your own words, and note that you live and/or work Downtown. But most important is to let your voice be heard. Feel free to use any or all of the sample message below in your email to the City Council:

Steps:
1. Open a new email.
2. Add a subject line, such as “The Future of South Downtown — Let’s Get This Right!”
3. Add a personal message to convey your concerns.
4. Cut and paste the City Council’s email addresses (below) into the “To” line.
bcc jons@downtownseattle.org, and share any written replies, so we can track the volume of messages and replies.
5. Hit send!